Page 115 of Wild Ride

Isobel was here with her nieces, Remy and Harper’s seven-year-old twins and five-year-old, Maddie. (The parents had stayed home with their infant daughter, Josie.) Gunnar Bond had brought his sister-in-law Lauren, who, at fourteen, was a wicked hockey player, while Bren St. James, retired player and scorer of the goal that won the Cup seven years ago, had his daughter Franky in tow. She’d already made friends with Willa, bonding over pictures of her slug terrarium. Seven-year-old Max Callaghan, son of Ford and Addison, had thought that pretty “ew” but was looking forward to seeing the butterflies.

A guide named Matt met them in the lobby after the Nature Museum had closed.

“Hey, everyone, welcome to the Butterfly Garden!” He gestured to them to follow. “How about we drop off your sleeping bags and belongings? Then we can take a tour, check out the exhibits, and go over the agenda for your Night at the Museum.”

“Night at the Museum,” Kershaw said. “Sounds creepy.”

His fourteen-year-old half-brother Jason grinned. “Sounds awesome.”

“Well, duh.”

Dex picked up Ashley’s sleeping bag and hefted it over his shoulder.

“You don’t have to do that.” She tried to take it from him, but he swatted her away gently. She took a quick recce of the group, spotted Willa chatting with Franky and Matt the Butterfly Guy, and appeared to relax a touch.

“How much do we owe you for this?”

“You already paid in soup, cupcakes, and the other.” He lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “Meaning orgasms.”

“Hey, I know this isn’t cheap. When we were set to do it before it was $100 a head, and that was before you factored in the pizza.”

He couldn’t bear to see Willa’s disappointment at missing out on this special time with the butterflies. A hundred dollars a head was a small price to pay to make a little girl happy. What was the point of all this money if you couldn’t spend it on people you cared about?

Usually, they needed a group of fifty to make this worthwhile for the Nature Museum. They had about ten adults and ten children in this group and there was no way they were sharing with a bunch of strangers, so this was how it would go. He didn’t mind paying a premium for the smaller group and the privacy.

“Dex!” Ashley shout-whispered, grasping his arm. “I thought you said one of your teammates organized it. Who should I talk to about paying our way?”

“It’s sorted.”

She stopped and stared at him. “You organized this!”

“Course I did. Just another brick in the wall of Dex O’Malley’s rehabilitation. Not only does he pick up puppy poop and begs for charitable donations on Insta, he also plans slumber parties for kids at the Butterfly Garden. Wow, that guy must be a saint!”

She laughed. “You’ll have to be to put up with this lot for a night.”

“Ah, well, that’s where you’re wrong, Ashley Adams. Because you’re going to be making it worth my while.”

“I am?”

“Yep. Later you and I will be learning all about creating our own cozy cocoon. That’s butterfly lingo, by the way. Foot rubs are included. Heard you’re a fan.”

She shook her head, but he didn’t miss her smile at his cheeky charm. But there was more. The hollowness he carried with him was filling drop by drop with every moment he spent with Ashley and Willa. If someone had told him six weeks ago that he’d be doing everything in his power to win over a single mom and her kid, he’d have said they were high on their own supply.

After the 15-minute orientation, they got a tour of the exhibits, the highlight of which was hanging in the Garden and using the supplied cheat sheet to identify as many butterfly species as they could. Willa insisted on being paired with Dex—“sorry, Mom, I can see you any day of the week!”—and they spent a fun half hour spotting all the different types of butterflies.

“Okay, Sparkle, how many are there?”

“There are twenty thousand species in existence, but this garden has about 40.”

“What’s that blue one called?” He took a snap so they could show their work later.

“That’s a morpho. They’re kind of common but they’re also beautiful.”

Agreed. “How about this one? This looks like one of these tiger deals.” He referred to his cheat sheet.

“A tiger longwing. From South America.”

“Long way to fly. Must be mighty tired.”

---